Tiny Devotional for Monday, 07-31-2023

 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, did you bring any bay leaves?

An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
And he will have no lack of gain.
Proverbs 31:10-11, NASB

Spend some time being overwhelmed by these verses. It’s needful.

First, think about the scribes.
They have been faithfully transcribing the wisdom of Solomon into this collection for a LONG time; I can easily imagine this is a labor of love that took YEARS, if not generations, to accomplish. In my imagination, I’m seeing them sitting around with wine and bread, saying “Okay, boys, what are we going to end this thing with?”
They choose the Story of the Excellent Woman, of course, because everybody has a mama.

Second, they pose a riddle:
Can an excellent wife be found?
It’s a ‘gotcha’ riddle, because the answer is ‘NO!’
Certainly, there are excellent traits that can be found in many women, but unlike apples and pumpkins, there ISN’T an Excellent Wife Farm by the road, where you can come and pick your own. Ask any woman, especially your mama if you are blessed to have her around, if on her wedding day she already had all the skills required to be an Excellent Wife.
It’s an impossibility, because an Excellent Wife doesn’t exist as a separate individual. An absolute minimum condition: custody of their husband’s heart. That takes a conscious decision, and it takes time to affirm it in practice.

No one can FIND an Excellent Wife, but I think almost any couple can MAKE an Excellent Wife.

(As long as they aren't stupid about it.)

Peace be on your household.

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